Chicopee Historical Society may sell valuable historic gun

submitted photoThis shows the butt of the Inshaw rifle, owned by the Chicopee Historical Society. which will be published in upcoming book "Colt's Nineteenth Century Engravers" by Hebert G. Houze.

CHICOPEE – The Historical Society could sell one of its most valuable artifacts to help convert a former Facemate building into a museum.

Members agreed there is no easy answer so it is forming two committees to research the proposal to sell a rifle engraved by Richard Bates Inshaw, who became well known in the 1800s for his elaborate etching work on ornamental swords and other items, said Stephen R. Jendrysik, a member of the Chicopee Historical Society and president of the Edward Bellamy Memorial Association.

Richard Inshaw was already well-respected as an engraver in New York when he chose to move his family to Chicopee and take a job at the Ames Company in 1836. At the time the company was relatively new and had just received its first government contract to make military swords, Jendrysik said.

Family of Inshaw donated the gun to the Historical Society in 2003. Members appreciated the historic significance of the gun but never knew it was that valuable.

In 2009 Herbert G. Houze, an expert on historic firearms, the author of many books on firearms and a former curator of several museums including the former Winchester Army Museum of Wyoming, contacted Jendrysik after reading a column he wrote about the donation that ran in the Republican and on Masslive.com.

He visited Chicopee, examined the gun and appraised it’s value at about $100,000, Jendrysik said.

“Is it without a doubt the best pre-1850 American firearm I’ve ever seen,” said Houze, who lives in Wyoming.

The gun is believed to have been made by Joseph Inshaw and engraved by his brother Richard. It has silver inlays on the stock and gold inlays in other places. It was likely used to demonstrate their work, he said.

“It is so over the top. It would have been too expensive for every day use,” Houze said.

In addition the gun is in superb condition. Jendrysik said it has never been fired.

Wednesday the Historical Society decided to put off making the choice until more research can be done. It expects to make a decision in September, Jendrysik said.

By selling the firearm, which is now being stored in a bank vault, the Historical Society may be able to create a museum to preserve its rich industrial history, he said.

The proposal is to take a former warehouse, which is the only building from the Facemate complex that will not be demolished this summer, and convert it.

There is one museum in the city, the Edward Bellamy House, which is owned by the private non-profit Edward Bellamy Society. The building, which is the former home of the famous author, is not large enough to house most of the Historical Society’s industrial collection.

The Bellamy Society and the Historical Society are different groups, but they work together.

Unlike most of the buildings on the Facemate and Uniroyal complex, the warehouse was rented for years to Baskin Truck Supply and was kept in good condition.

“It is on the road to the new senior center and the (planned) bike path will go right by it,” Jendrysik said. “It doesn’t leak, the floors are sound. The biggest problem is asbestos.”

He called it ideal for a museum, and said if the city does not preserve its industrial history soon, it will be too late.

The city owns a large number of artifacts that show its past as one of the biggest industrial centers in the state, but it has never been able to display them. There is a cannon and a sword collection from Ames Privilege, a restored historic fire truck, an early power lawnmower from Savage Arms and Belcher Taylor farm equipment from company which was in business from 1864 to 1923 in Chicopee, Jendrysik said.

Selling the gun would give the Historical Society the money to do an engineering study on the building and repair and renovate it.

Converting the building to a historical museum may also move the project forward to demolish buildings and clean up hazardous waste at the Uniroyal site, since saving that building could mitigate the negative historical impacts of razing other buildings, Jendrysik said.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission has given the city permission to demolish all the buildings with the exception of the former Fisk administration building and a building next to is which is rented to Quality Plus, Inc., on the Uniroyal property, said Brian S. McNiff, spokesman for Secretary of State William F. Galvin, which oversees the commission.

The city is slowly doing the work as money becomes available.

The Fisk building is in poor condition. The roof leaks, windows are broken and there are questions about the building’s structural integrity, Christopher Nolan, project director for the Uniroyal cleanup, said.

“It is historical but it can be saved only with an extreme amount of money and it does not appear to be viable for reuse,” he said.